Trolley-wheel.



PATENTED SEPT. 13, 1904 W. T. WILKINSON.

TROLLEY WHEEL.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.1B,'1903.

N0 MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented September 13, 1904;.

PATENT @EEicE.

TROLLEY-WHEEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 769,854, ed Septe ber13, 1904.

Application filed December 18, 1903. Serial No. 185,644- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM T. WILKINSON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Medford, in the county of Middlesex and Stateof Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Trolley-WVheels, ofwhich the following description, in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, is a specification, like'figures on the drawingsrepresentinglike parts.

The trolley-wheels for electric cars which are now in common use arecast in one piece of some material having good conductivity such, forinstance, as brass. The portion of the wheel which is subjected to thegreatest wear is that with which the conductor wire contacts, the wearbeing such that the ordinary life of a trolley-wheel is only a few days.Where the wheel is cast in one piece, the entire wheel has to be thrownaway when the groove therein becomes worn to such an extent as to makeit unfit for further use. This construction entails considerableexpense, especially where the wheels are made of brass or otherexpensive metals. To overcome this, it has been proposed to construct atrolleywheel with a renewable center with which the wire contacts andwhich is detachably supported between flanges at the sides of the wheel,the idea being that the wear would occur largely on the renewal of thecenter, which could be renewed when worn without necessitating thediscarding of the entire wheel.

So far as I am aware in all previous attempts to construct atrolley-wheel with a renewable center either said center has had in itsperiphery only a portion of the wire-receiving groove of thetrolley-wheel and the side walls of the groove have been formed of somemetal or material different from the center and which is not intended tobe renewable or the cheekpiece or flanges between which the renewablecenter has been held have not been shaped to it the outside of therenewable center, and thus support the latter at all points.

In the first construction above mentioned the side walls of the groovebecome so worn after a short time that when a fresh center is placedbetween them the sides of the groove in said fresh center do not tallyor register with the sides of the groove as defined by the worn flanges,and the result is that more or less arcing occurs, a proceeding which isalways destructive to the trolley-wheel. In the other construction ofwheel the outer faces of the renewable center are not supportedthroughout their entire extent, but only at those points where thecheek-pieces contact therewith, with the result that the center afterhaving become only slightly worn is very apt to break down at itsunsupported points. in order to overcome these disadvantages and at thesame time to provide a trolley-wheel which is the equivalent in everyway of a solid wheel, and yet which has a renewable center, I havedesigned the wheel illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whichthe renewable center has formed entirely therein the wire-receivinggroove and is supported between cheek-pieces shaped to give propersupport to the side faces of the center throughout their entire extent.

A trolley-wheel constructed as above described is the full equivalent inevery way of a solid trolley-wheel and at the same time the worn partscan be renewed when necessary at a minimum expense.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of my improved wheel. Fig. 2 isa section on the line a: a, Fig. 1.

The wheel comprises the two flanges or cheek-pieces 3 and 4, betweenwhich is the renewable center 5, which will preferably be of brass orother similar material having good conductivity. The cheek-pieces 3 and4 may be detachably secured together in any suitable way, and, as hereinshown, the cheek-piece 3 has integral therewith the hub 6, which isscrew-threaded onto the hub 7 on the cheekpiece 4. The center 5 is ofpeculiar shape, it having the main or body portion 8 and the two flanges9, which form between them the wirereceiving groove of thetrolley-wheel. Said flanges 9, which form the side walls of the groove,extend beyond the cheek-pieces 3 and L and overlap the latter at theirperipheries, as shown at 10. The center 5, therefore, is so shaped as toprotect every portion of the cheelcpieces 3 and 4 from contact with theconductor-wire, the result being that the wire can only have contactwith some portion of said center.

It will be noted that the outside edges 11 of the portions 10 standslightly beyond the outside of the cheek-pieces 3 and 4, so that evenwhen the trolley-wheel jumps the wire these projecting portions 10prevent the wire from contacting with the cheek-pieces. The inner face14 of each cheek-piece is shaped to fit the corresponding outer face ofthe center 5,.so that the inner face of each cheek-piece contacts withand furnishes a support for the adjacent outer face of the centerthroughout its entire extent. This I regard as quite an importantfeature of my invention, because thereby every portion of the center isfirmly supported by one or both of the cheek-pieces, and the wheel whenconstructed is in every way as solid as if it were cast solid, and thereis no danger that the center 5 will break down until it has becomecompletely worn out.

In a trolley-wheel constructed as above described the entire surfacewhich is exposed to contact with the wire is of the same material and ispart of the center, so that all of the wear comes on a single portionwhich can be renewed easily and at a minimum expense when too worn forfurther use, and in addition the center is properly supported, so thatit will not give way after slight use.

The hubs 6 and 7 of the cheek-pieces have the central bore 12therethrough, in which a suitable bushing (not shown) may be inserted toform a bearing for the pivotal pin on the trolley-pole or in whichsuitable roller-bearings maybe placed, as desired.

The advantage of the roller-bearings over the bushing would be that theywould wear very much longer than the bushings would.

While I have illustrated one specific form of my invention, I do notwish to be limited thereto, as the shape of the parts may be varied andstill embody the inventive idea, which is to so construct the center 5that the wirereceiving groove is formed entirely therein.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

1. A trolley-wheel having two cheek-pieces detachably secured together,and a renewable center confined between said cheek-pieces, said centerhaving formed entirely therein the wire-receiving groove of the wheel,and the inner faces of the cheek-pieces having a shape to contact withand support the outer faces of said center throughout their entireextent.

2. A tro1ley-wheel, having two cheek-pieces detachably secured together,and a renewable center confined between said cheek-pieces, the innerface of each cheek-piece contacting with and supporting the adjacentouter face of the center throughout its entire extent and said centerhaving in its periphery the wire-receiving groove of the wheel, theportions of the center forming the side walls of the groove extendingbeyond and overlapping the periphery of the cheek-pieces.

3. A trolley-wheel comprising two cheekpieces each provided with aninwardly-projecting apertured hub, one of said hubs being screw-threadedto the other, and a renewable center encircling said hubs and confinedbetween the cheek-pieces, the inner face of each cheek-piece contactingwith and giving support to the adjacent outer face of the centerthroughout its entire extent and said center having in its periphery thewire-receiving groove of the wheel, the portions of the center formingthe side walls of said groove extending beyond and overlapping theperiphery of the cheek-pieces.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

W. T. WILKINSON. Witnesses:

Louis C. SMITH, JOHN C. EDWARDS.

